The New York Times - Friday, January 7, 2005
Michael Wines, Foreign Desk

The son, Makgatho L. Mandela, 54, had been seriously ill for more than a month, but the nature of his ailment had not been made public before his death on Thursday.

At a news conference in the garden of his Johannesburg home, the elder Mr. Mandela said he was disclosing the cause of his son's death to focus more attention on AIDS, which is still a taboo topic among many South Africans. To keep the illness secret would wrongly imply that it is shameful, he said.

"That is why I have announced that my son has died of AIDS," he said. "Let us give publicity to H.I.V./AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of H.I.V./AIDS, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary."

Mr. Mandela, 86, gave the statement surrounded by his family, including his wife, Gra a Machel, and his grandchildren. Makgatho, who was a lawyer, was Mr. Mandela's only surviving son; his younger son, Thembekile, died in an auto accident in 1969, shortly after Mr. Mandela began 27 years of imprisonment as punishment for his anti-apartheid activities.

Makgatho and his sister, Makaziwe, who survives him, were from Mr. Mandela's first marriage, to Evelyn Mase, who died in May at 82. Nelson Mandela has two other daughters from his second marriage, to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

Both personally and through his Nelson Mandela Foundation, Mr. Mandela has campaigned for greater awareness of AIDS and H.I.V., the virus that causes the disease. Although as recently as last July Mr. Mandela said it was a blessing that "the world has made defeating AIDS a top priority," he has acknowledged that as president he did not recognize the severity of the epidemic in his own nation.

But he embraced the fight after he left office in 1999 and pushed his successor, Thabo Mbeki, to do the same. Mr. Mbeki's delays in rolling out an anti-AIDS plan brought a rare public reprimand from Mr. Mandela in 2002.

Mr. Mandela said at his news conference on Thursday that he had not known Makgatho's medical status when he began his campaign. He did not say whether his son had been receiving antiretroviral therapy, a drug regimen that can prolong the lives of infected people for years, even decades.

Antiretrovirals have been available through private doctors in South Africa for some time, but the current government has lagged in extending the treatment to scores of thousands of South Africans who need the drugs but cannot afford them, a delay Mr. Mandela has publicly criticized. Some five million South Africans have the virus, according to the United Nations, but the adult infection rate -- about one in eight -- is lower than in many other sub-Saharan nations.

Makgatho Mandela entered Linksfield Clinic in Johannesburg in late November, and his father canceled a number of appearances to be at his bedside during that time. After word of his hospitalization spread in December, the family appealed for privacy, saying members would talk to the media at an appropriate time.

Makgatho Mandela worked as an insurance underwriter before earning a law degree in 1997, being admitted to the South African bar in 2000 and becoming counsel and consultant to Standard Bank here. He was also an executive of a South African health care company and had only recently resigned as corporate secretary of the South African operations of Diner's Club.

His wife, Zondi, died of pneumonia in 2003 at age 46. He is survived by three sons.

Nelson Mandela, longtime crusader against AIDS, says his son Makgatho has died of the disease; says he is disclosing news to focus more attention on AIDS, which is still taboo topic among many South Africans; elder Mandela has campaigned for greater awareness of AIDS and HIV both personally and through Nelson Mandela Foundation; has acknowledged that as president he did not recognize severity of epidemic in his own nation; in 2002, when his successor Thabo Mbeki delayed rolling out anti-AIDS plan, it brought rare public reprimand from Mandela.